Kara Rosen eats cookies and muffins containing marijuana to help relieve chronic pain and other ailments she’s experienced since doctors removed a carcinoid tumor from her left lung. Rosen, a Hayden resident, is part of a new wave of patients who have turned to marijuana after more traditional methods failed to help them.
Photo by John F. Russell

Cancer survivor Kara Rosen looks to her husband, Shelby, while talking about the reasons she turned to medical marijuana to deal with chronic pain. Kara is part of a new wave of patients who have turned to marijuana after more traditional methods failed to help her.
Photo by John F. Russell

Shelby Rosen, the husband of medical marijuana patient Kara Rosen, talks about his wife’s health conditions and the use of medical marijuana to treat those problems.
Photo by John F. Russell

Steamboat Springs resident and medical marijuana user Kip Strean uses the drug to treat chronic back and shoulder pain and to relieve insomnia. Strean said he discovered the benefits of smoking marijuana more than 40 years ago and admits it long has been a part of his culture.
Photo by John F. Russell

Medical marijuana patient Kip Strean examines what’s available at Steamboat’s Rocky Mountain Remedies. Patients can go to medical marijuana centers and pick out a specific type of marijuana to treat their conditions. Strean said different types of marijuana help different ailments.
Photo by John F. Russell

Marijuana is examined with a magnifier by patient Kip Strean.
Photo by John F. Russell

Medical marijuana patient Emily Anderson, a Steamboat Springs resident, uses marijuana to treat pain from a congenital heart block — she’s on her third pacemaker — and five knee surgeries related to her college volleyball career. Anderson said marijuana allows her to treat the pain without the side effects of prescribed pain relievers.
Photo by John F. Russell

Medical marijuana patient Emily Anderson uses marijuana to deal with knee injuries and a heart condition. Anderson said marijuana allows her to treat the pain without the side effects of prescribed pain relievers.
Photo by John F. Russell

Medical marijuana patient Emily Anderson, a Steamboat Springs resident, uses marijuana to treat pain from a congenital heart block and five knee surgeries related to her college volleyball career.
Photo by John F. Russell

Jacob Wise, who owns Mary’s, a medical marijuana center in Oak Creek, talks about the medical benefits of marijuana while sitting outside his business. Wise says he is pursuing tinctures because he thinks they have more of a medical application than smoking marijuana.
Photo by John F. Russell

Jacob Wise, who owns a medical marijuana center in Oak Creek, talks about a study on the medical benefits of marijuana. He expects the industry to continue to grow and the treatments for his patients to continue to improve.
Photo by John F. Russell

Gordon Bedell carries boxes holding medical marijuana applications at a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment office in Denver. Office director Hyman estimates that applications from January are just now being processed.
Photo by Matt Stensland

Ron Hyman, the state registrar and director of the Office of Vital Statistics Medical Marijuana Registry, estimates that more than 30,000 medical marijuana applications remain unopened. He also says his office has a backlog of people who want to update their existing cardholder information.
Photo by Matt Stensland

An estimated 30,000 unopened medical marijuana card applications fill boxes at a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment office in Denver.
Photo by Matt Stensland

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers discusses state medical marijuana legislation in his office in Denver. Suthers says there isn’t much integrity to the process of determining debilitating medical conditions in the rapidly growing industry. He also says the average age of patients quickly is declining.
Photo by Matt Stensland

Law books line a bookcase in Colorado Attorney General John Suthers' office in Denver.
Photo by Matt Stensland

A job application for the city of Steamboat Springs notifies applicants that drug testing is a condition of employment. Human Resources Director John Thrasher says the city’s drug and alcohol policy prohibits substance abuse.
Photo by John F. Russell

Cheryl Stene, who works in lab technician support at Yampa Valley Medical Center’s YampaWorks, demonstrates how the program performs urine-based drug tests. The tests are required before working at some Steamboat companies.
Photo by Matt Stensland

Medical marijuana advocates said they’ll work with state legislators to get protections for employees approved to use the drug.
Photo by Matt Stensland

Most Steamboat Springs employers don’t have policies related specifically to medical marijuana, but many large companies require drug testing as a condition of employment.
Photo by Matt Stensland

Marijuana plants, like this hybrid breed called Shipwreck, which is grown inside the Aloha’s medical marijuana center in Milner, are at the center of a controversial debate about the production, use and role of marijuana as a medical treatment.
Photo by John F. Russell